


Isolation

by Haberdasher



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Relationships, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gaslighting, Heartbreak, Isolation, Loneliness, Major Original Character(s), Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Memory Magic, Nonbinary Character, Original Character(s), POV Second Person, Present Tense, Relationship(s), Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:15:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27291058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haberdasher/pseuds/Haberdasher
Summary: The story of your relationship with one Adrian Moseley.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	Isolation

You’re at a bar one night, drinking alone and keeping one eye on those around you while the other watches your drink, when you meet a charming individual named Adrian Moseley.

Adrian’s a little younger than you, but not enough that the age difference would cause a problem. They’re stunning physically, a thin waif of a thing that’s very attractive in your eyes, but that’s not the most important connection between the two of you. As Adrian strikes up a conversation with you, you soon find out that you have an astonishing amount in common: you have all the same hobbies, very similar opinions, and can and do talk for hours about a little bit of everything.

When they leave their cell phone number with you at the end of the night, on a torn piece of paper that has a heart drawn after their name, you have to stop yourself from calling them immediately.

You text back and forth and never seem to run out of things to talk about. One date with Adrian becomes two, becomes three, becomes more than you can count. They don’t have friends of their own--they’re new in town, apparently--but they join your social circle quickly.

And they start to point out things about your friends that you hadn’t noticed before, or that you _had_ noticed before but had tried to ignore. See how she interrupts you all the time? See how he objects to every suggestion you make, only to end up suggesting the same thing ten minutes later? See how they never talk when you’re around, but always seem to be in the middle of a conversation when you walk by?

Are you _sure_ these people are really your friends? Are you sure you want to spend time with them?

You’ve heard about abusive partners cutting you off from friends as part of the abuse before, but this isn’t that, you’re sure of it. There’s none of the anger, the indignation that you dare spend your time with anyone else. Adrian doesn’t even demand that you cut off ties with those you had previously thought so near and dear to your heart; they just give a list of lengthy, logical reasons why those “friends” of yours aren’t really such good friends at all, aren’t worthy of the time and effort needed to maintain your connection with them.

And it’s all true, all the information they give, that’s the thing. Those friends of yours really do make such inconsiderate actions, or have such strikingly different opinions, that you start to wonder why they were even your friends in the first place when they were so deeply flawed. Not like Adrian, of course. Adrian’s just like you--no, like a better version of yourself, caring and giving and understanding in ways that those friends of yours would never understand.

So, over time, your social circle dwindles until it’s just you and Adrian, but honestly, aren’t you better off that way, spending time with the love of your life rather than a bunch of fakers who probably never wanted you around anyway?

You bring up them meeting your parents, once. You say your mother and father would love to meet them--or, if they don’t, it’d be your parents’ problem, not theirs. They laugh it off at first, but then suggest that you’re being too optimistic, that your parents wouldn’t care for them at all. Sure, they’re just like you, but is that really a good thing in your parents’ eyes? Are you sure your family actually likes you as a person, let alone love you, or is their acceptance and apparent caring all just for show?

You spend holidays together, just you and Adrian, and it might seem awkward from the outside, but you’re pretty sure you’ve never felt so good before. There’s something about Adrian that lights up a room, makes everything okay even when the rest of the world seems out to get you. They’re a better friend than any of your old “friends” ever were, and that’s before getting into how wonderful they are as a lover, which... well, let’s just say you’ve never known such pleasure before.

You move in together, and it’s funny how easily your things and their things become indistinguishable, how it’s hard to tell what came from who. But that’s how close you are, you suppose. Same taste in interior design and everything. It really was meant to be.

Adrian doesn’t like talking too much about the future and what it might bring, but you still can imagine it vividly. You imagine your wedding day, beautiful and happy, even if your mother’s long gone and the man you once called your father is too much of an ass to walk you down the aisle. You imagine the present stretching into the future, years upon years spent by Adrian’s side, growing old together.

And then one day, Adrian leaves.

Maybe they leave a long note tearing your personality apart, pointing out every flaw of yours and claiming that you could never be good enough for them. Maybe they just disappear from your life, ghosting you in the middle of the night. Either way, you’re left alone in the place that you had shared with them, that feels much too large now that it’s just you in there.

You still have that slip of paper they’d written their number on, but as tears blur the digits and the little heart after their name, you can’t seem to get a message through. Did they block your number? They must have. After all this time, you can’t even speak to the person you knew was the one and only love of your life.

You’re heartbroken, that future you imagined so vividly now collapsing around you. You’ve never felt so alone in your life.

You try to find a shoulder to cry on, but it’s not so easy. You can remember a couple of your old friends, but when you try to get in touch, none of them seem to remember ever having known you. You try to remember things you did together, conversations you had back in the day, but all you can think of is Adrian’s voice pointing out all the ways they were horrid friends to begin with.

You wish you had family to rely on, as some sort of safety net for such situations, but, well, such is the life of an orphan, you suppose. That luxury was never available for you. You hadn’t missed it quite so much before, though.

Putting your life back together is a long, uphill struggle, filled with tears and screams and long hours spent alone, wondering what it was you had done so wrong, what you did to deserve this agony.

And some distance away, in a town you’ve never heard of, someone you’ve never met is just meeting a charming individual named Adrian Moseley.


End file.
